Libertarians say Census Bureau is violating Constitution

The Census questionnaires should ask one and only one question, according to the Libertarian Party. The party says the Constitution outlines the task of Census officials, to find out how many people are where.

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Executive Director of the Libertarian Party Wes Benedict says only one question is valid… how many people live in your residence?

Benedict says the Constitution empowers Congress to use census numbers to apportion Representatives correctly and for no other purpose, so there’s no need to collect additional information such as names, races, ages, sexes, or home ownership status.

The Libertarian Party’s push is for less government, and Benedict says the Census is just one example of the Government using citizens’ private information for government business. He cites the Patriot Act as an example of how the Government abuses information it collects from the public.

“Unfortunately, the federal government wants to use the additional information to fine tune its control over the lives and money of the American people,” says Libertarian Party Chairman William Redpath. “The Census Bureau promises that they will keep everything confidential, but they have broken that promise in the past. As David Kopel of the libertarian Cato Institute has pointed out, during World War I, the Census Bureau handed over lists of names and addresses so the federal government could search for draft resisters. And, shockingly, during World War II, the Census Bureau told the Justice Department which neighborhoods had high concentrations of Japanese-Americans. The federal government then used that information to find Japanese-Americans and imprison them in concentration camps.”

Another concern for the Libertarian party is cost.

“The 2010 census is expected to cost over $14 billion. A recent report from the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce indicates that preparations for the 2010 census have already been filled with waste and bloat. A proper census, limited to just a headcount, would be far less expensive.